Having trouble getting all of the pieces of your health puzzle to fit together? You’re not alone. Many people jump from practitioner to practitioner, searching for answers to their mystery illness, only to come out empty-handed.
Getting to the bottom of chronic health issues takes digging! And a huge piece of that is testing. If you’ve done stool testing and are still scratching your head searching for answers, it may be time to check out your blood.
This article will spell out which functional blood tests may help you get to the bottom of your mysterious symptoms. Let’s get started!
Blood Tests to Consider
Blood testing provides an accurate snapshot of your current levels of various things. You can find systems that are struggling and nutrient deficiencies.
Below are some tests I run or that other practitioners commonly run. Nowadays, in many states, you can order your own tests online. If you feel you know how to respond to the results, self testing may be a great option for you.
A lab we use is Ulta Labs, but there are others too. If you have an HSA payment card with your insurance, you may be able to use it for your own labs, health coaching, or supplements.
We currently offer a couple of pre-loaded testing packages at our site, which makes it easy, and you get a consultation with us to review the results and make a plan. You can also ask your physician to consider some of the tests below:
Full thyroid panel with thyroid antibodies (see below)
White blood cell count (WBC) with differentials (gives a sense of overall immunity and possible infections or imbalances)
Vitamin D (I like levels at 60-80 ng/mL)
Ferritin (iron stores - 30-80 ng/mL depending on who you ask! Ferritin combined with a full RBC panel is an important check for energy in mold illness)
HA1c, fasting glucose, insulin (also super important, especially with aging, fatigue, & weight)
Testosterone, DHEA, estrogen, cortisol (your MD could run for you, or you could check out my favorite hormone testing HERE)
Epstein Barr viral panel (this is a common, active co-infection with mold
Lyme-related infections (Vibrant Wellness, Igenex or Armin Labs)
Autoimmunity testing - can identify multiple predictive autoimmune antibodies up to 10 years before onset of illness (Cyrex)
Blood-brain barrier testing - assesses breach on blood-brain barrier due to stress, trauma, and environmental toxins and risk of neurodegenerative diseases (Vibrant Wellness or Cyrex)
Food allergies and sensitivities (Vibrant, Infinite Allergy Labs, Cyrex and the MRT from Oxford Biomedical)
Thyroid Testing - What You Need to Know
These are the thyroid labs I like to run and the ranges I like to see:
Reverse T3
>10:1 ratio to Free T3 or 9.21-24.1 ng/dL
T3 Total
100- 180 ng/ dL
Free T3
>3.2 pg/mL
T4 Total
6-12 mcg/ dL
Free T4
>1.1 ng/dL
TG AB
<= 1 iu/ml or below range
TPO AB
< 9 iu/ml or below range
TSH
1-2 miU/L
*Please note the units of measurement may be different in other countries or with other labs.
Sometimes you think it’s your thyroid, and it’s not!
We can order a Thyroid Test for you that also covers ferritin, blood sugar, vitamin D, and more. Thank goodness we did, because it can be disappointing to expect to see thyroid woes and see nothing.
Fatigue, weight gain, brain fog, menstrual issues -- these can be thyroid issues, but they can also be thanks to toxicity, poor gut health, and blood sugar issues. Like it or not, sometimes it takes a handful of tests to get to the bottom of things.
Want More Expert Testing Tips?
They’re coming your way! My new book, The Ultimate Toxic Mold Recovery Guide: Take Back Your Home, Health, & Life, is releasing in a few weeks!
This book is jam-packed with helpful tips, resources, and strategies to restore your health from mold toxicity – including an entire chapter devoted to testing! If you know mold is at the root of your chronic health issues (or simply suspect it), this book can be life-changing.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP, is trained in functional health coaching and has worked with thousands of women over her career since 2004. She is the founder of Women’s Wellness Collaborative llc and FunctionalDetoxProducts.com.
Check our her easy 5-Day DIY Detox Guide here!
I was introduced to CoQ10 as an supplement about 4 years ago. At the time, I was in the middle of detoxing from mold, and I had already spent a lot of money on trying to heal. I was skeptical to try yet another thing, but the truth was that I was only about 50% better, which is not enough at all. So I tried it…